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Hardwood Record — ^Veneer & Panel Section 



April 25. 1922 



Notable Improvements Made in Handling of 

 Veneer and Plywood During Last Decade 



By L. G. Merritt 



A Modern Development of the Redrier 



The use of veneer and 

 plywood in the furniture 

 industry has had a wonder- 

 ful development during the 

 past ten years and equip- 

 ment and processes for the 

 manipulation of veneer 

 have gone through a 

 change equally as great. 

 For one thing, people in 

 general have come to 

 realize to some extent that 

 without veneered surfaces 

 it would be impossible to produce the expanse of figured wood we 

 get now-a-days and the advantages of plywood as compared with 

 solid lumber are now recognized. With this recognition has come 

 new methods and new machinery for veneer and veneer w^orlc. 



The development of new glues has been a large factor which 

 could best be told by a practical glue man. Ten years ago, the old 

 standby, animal or hide glue, was almost universally used. Since 

 then, numerous vegetable, casein, al- 

 bumen and waterproof formulas 

 have been developed and these new 

 products are in extensive use. If it 

 had not been for the expansion in 

 this direction, it is doubtful if the re- 

 markable development in the use of 

 veneer could have taken place, at 

 least not to the extent it has. 



One considerable change in the 

 method of working veneer in the 

 furniture industry, has been the 

 gradual substitution of the knife for 

 the saw in dimensioning veneer. 

 The veneer clipper, or guillotine, as 

 the French call it, does at one stroke 

 what formerly required one pass 

 over a saw^ table. The clipper is used for both edging and cross 

 cutting and the handling of the veneer sheets on a clipper table is 

 much more convenient and rapid than the old process of saw^ing. 



The greatest advance in the use of veneer during the past ten 

 years has been in its care and treatment, from the time it is re- 

 ceived from the veneer mill until it reaches the glue press. 

 Need of Redrying Universally Recognized 

 Ten years ago, re-drying veneer was looked upon by a majority 

 of furniture manufacturers as an unnecessary expense only resorted 

 to in an emergency. The veneer mill that did not deliver its prod- 

 uct to the furniture factory in supposedly fit condition for gluing, 

 was looked upon with disfavor. Veneer driers at the mills w^ere 

 w^asting coal, spoiling veneer, and adding to the costs, in a vain 

 endeavor to supply glue rooms 500 miles away with bone dry ve- 

 neer. Much of the veneer was dried too dry and much not dry 

 enough. But no matter how dry it may have been at the cutting 

 mill, by the time it got out of the hands of the railroad and after 

 it had lain in storage in basements and damp sheds and storehouses, 

 it had, of course, as much moisture in it as the surrounding atmos- 

 phere. The great trouble was, few furniture men realized that they 

 were gluing their veneer w^ith too high a moisture content. Many 

 of them seemed to feel that a piece of veneer once dry was always 

 dry and that the whole trouble went back to the cutting mill. The 



An Efficient \'eneer Clipper 



change in sentiment was well started ten years ago and there has 

 been a gradual awakening to the necessity of thoroughly redrying 

 veneer a few hours before gluing. When glue is applied to a piece 

 of veneer, the water in the glue goes into the wood. If the wood 

 already has as much moisture as the surrovinding atmosphere, the 

 water in the glue is just that much too much and trouble begins. 

 What has to be done is, drive out the moisture in the wood 

 before the water in the glue enters it and then the finished piece 

 will contain just about what it should have to exist safely in the 

 average atmosphere. 



Veneer Makers Early Saw Wisdom of Redrying 

 It might be said that the gradual awakening to the necessity 

 of redrying veneer was responsible for the evolution of thr; modern 

 hot plate redrier w^ith its well known "breathing movement" but 

 it might be nearer the truth to say that the machine came first 

 and its adoption follow^ed. But if the machine man had his work 

 cut out for him to educate the trade in the use of redriers, he 

 had back of him the veneer men w^ho manufacture veneer and 

 ship it to the furniture factories. They realized early in the 

 game that there w^as a desirable point at which to stop the drying 



process at the mill — that veneer 

 "shipping dry" is in better condi- 

 tion, flatter, tougher and subject to 

 less waste, than veneer made "bone 

 dry ' at one operation. Then there 

 is the saving in coal and increased 

 output resulting from cutting down 

 the time required to dry. 



For several years, the producers 

 of veneer have urged their custo- 

 mers to install redriers and some 

 have gone so far as to make that 

 a condition to supplying veneer. 



Today, the use of a redrier at the 

 glue room is universal practice and 

 re-drying has had its full share in 

 advancing the quality of glued up 

 material. 



At the present time, there is strong tendency toward w^hat is 

 called "air conditioning." — That is, the storage of w^ood in the 

 raw slate should be carried on in rooms having the air kept 

 at a constant moisture content. Plywood, panels, veneer tops, 

 etc., should not be subjected to varying degrees of moisture until 

 protected by a coating of varnish. 



There has been evolution in nearly all methods of furniture 

 manufacture during the past ten years and the writer has merely 

 touched upon a few prominent changes in the line of his ow^n 

 particular experience in the design and manufacture of veneer 

 machinery. 



• The Merritt Engineering and Sales *.'omi>an.v, Lockport, N. Y. 



Filing Cabinet Company Plans Additions 



The Automatic File and Index Company of Green Bay, Wis., 

 which erected a new factory in 1 9 1 9, is so overcrow^ded w^ith orders 

 for filing cabinets and other office fixtures, that it is actively en- 

 gaged in plans for further extensions. During the first three months 

 of this year the company did a business between 50 and 60 per cent 

 greater than in the first quarter of 1921. The additions will pro- 

 vide facilities for making plywood on a much larger scale than 

 heretofore. Practically all cabinets and desks made by the com- 

 pany are of five-ply panels joined with waterproof glue. Fred L. 

 Straubel is president and general manager of the company. 



